270 PYRIDOXINE AND RELATED COMPOUNDS 



specific dynamic action of amino acids such as glutamic acid.^^' ^^ It is 

 believed that vitamin Be deficiency delays the deamination of amino acids. ^'' 

 The adult avitaminotic rat cannot adjust to cold very efficiently. •^°'* 



Vitamin Be deficiency decreased the concentration of pantothenic acid 

 in the liver by 78 %, in the kidney by 28 %, and in muscle by 18 %.^^ Liver 

 and kidney niacin concentration decreased 15 % and liver riboflavin content 

 decreased 22 % in vitamin Be-deficient rats. 



2. Mice 



In young mice, a vitamin Be deficiency induces poor growth and paralysis 

 of the hind legs but no characteristic dermatitis. In adult mice, the defi- 

 ciency results in failure to maintain body weight and death within two 

 months. Acute stages of the deficiency in adult mice are often accompanied 

 by pathological skin lesions and necrotic tails. ^^ De Renzo and Cerecedo^^ 

 produced an acrodynia in the mouse by feeding a diet deficient in vitamin 

 Be and desoxypyridoxine. A diet high in casein or an equivalent amount 

 of methionine aggravated the skin lesions and shortened survival time. 

 Boutwell et a/."^^ have also been able to produce acrodynia in mice with low 

 vitamin Be containing diets. 



There is the same close relationship between vitamin Be and protein 

 metabolism in mice as there is in rats. Deficient mice excrete xanthurenic 

 acid, especially when the diet is high in tryptophan.^^ Pyridoxine-deficient 

 mice fed diets containing 60 % casein lived only one-third as long as those 

 fed 10% casein. The tissue reserves of pyridoxine in vitamin Be-deficient 

 mice diminished more rapidly when the diet contained 50% casein than 

 when it contained only 10 %.^^ The mice on the high protein diet lost more 

 weight and had a higher mortality rate than those on the low protein diet. 

 This effect was not due to variation in caloric intake, or to unequal urinary 

 excretion of pyridoxine, or to the tryptophan content of the diets, according 

 to these authors. At low levels of vitamin Be intake, less vitamin was stored 

 on the high protein diet, but with high levels of vitamin Be intake, a high 



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